The two remaining Baphomets didn't make a move even when their allies where getting crushed behind the rock. They must be waiting for me to make a move. I took the opportunity to take a quick peak on the Baphomets' stats. The idiot one who asked me before was only level 11, but this guy's worse:
His stats were over 100 more than the idiot, except for SPD and DEX. And talk about a heretic skill list. His highest skill revolves around mental manipulation, and he's got that racial skill to make them all Heretic-attribute to bypass regular resistance skills such as [Fear Resistance].
His magic ain't half-assed either, as that [Demon's Black Arts] cover for skills like [Magic Talent]. [Demon's Wrought Arms] is equally bad news, as they power up his physical attacks in addition to his other skills. [Demonic Vitality] and [Demonic Knowledge] is increasing his stamina and magical abilities even further. What are you? A magic sumo-fighter?
He must also be the true boss of the goats, as he has specialized skills of [Commander] and [Party] for that purpose. Well, he had only one fate waiting for him.
"Turn into my EXP already!" - Garami
I dashed towards the Baphomet with the Accel Leap Art. The idiot Baphomet started to create magic circles of the Darkness-attribute to stop me. I threw the blood daggers I held with my spider limbs at him, forcing him to stop the magic to dodge them. Unlike me, normal magic users need to stay in one place to construct their magic circles. They don't have the handy [Parallel Minds] skill after all.
The idiot Baphomet tried to recreate the magic circles again, but before that happened, I manipulated the daggers with [Poltergeist] to strike him in the neck. The Baphomet let out a cry of agony, but it still refused to die. These guys are too tough. Then, Dagger's Dance.
The Art, Dagger's Dance, is a move that increases the sharpness and movement-speed of daggers. It turns the low-powered daggers to a storm of scratches that can compete with the blows of war-hammers in damage output. I got it back during the Haunt-rush back in Velantas, when I did a Jack-the-Ripper on a horde of Skeletons. The bad part with this Art is that it's extremely messy when used against something that can bleed, but wireless use of it like now is a different story.
Even so, the Baphomet was still alive. His neck was too thick. The stronger Baphomet was trying to attack me with his fists covered in some strange aura while I did all of this, but he suddenly turned over to the idiot and... that's the magic circle for Black Bomb! He's gonna steal my kill!
"Lily! Blitz!" - Garami
The two who had been hiding in my shadow from before the start, thanks to Blitz's [Shadow Journey] skill, for then moving to the Baphomet's shadow, jumped at the bastard in a surprise attack, hitting him behind his knees to make his posture collapse.
"Hydra!" - Garami
The now five-headed poison dragon charged towards the wounded Baphomet, who tried to use a spell to thwart the dragon, but only one of the heads was hit off by his Black Bomb spell. And the half-destroyed head took its revenge by drowning the idiot Baphomet in poison.
Just what I was aiming for. My MP was at full, and I still had four more Hydra-heads in my disposition. I then turned to the remaining Baphomet, only to be greeted by an incoming Lily!?
"S-stop-, time out!!" - Lily
I wanted to dodge, but that would be too cruel, so I tried to catch her. However, Lily was moving as if she'd been hit by a truck, so when I caught her, I tossed her aside.
"What do you think you're doing, boss?!" - Lily
After being thrown into the air, Lily managed to control herself and landed on top of the big rock that divided us from the goats.
"Shut it. I killed your momentum, so you didn't get hurt there." - Garami
As I said that, I saw Blitz slithering away from the Baphomet while it was busy dealing with the clones made from Blitz's [Shadowganger] skill. The shadowy clones were wielding equally shadowy weapons in the form of swords, spears, hammers, and daggers. They kept on attacking the Baphomet, but the clones didn't have enough power to break through the Baphomet's VIT, so they couldn't do anything but to be crushed by the arch-demon.
"Lily. Take care of the goats back there with Blitz. If you guys get thrown off the road, even I can't help you then." - Garami
"Grr, alright. But I wanna have goat meat for dinner tonight!" - Lily
With that, Lily jumped down to the other side of the rock. Blitz followed her while slithering in the shadows.
I ordered the Hydra-heads to attack the Baphomet again, just in time before he finished the last clone. The Baphomet took to the sky to dodge the heads, but the Hydra didn't let up. I sent the blood daggers after him as well, which resulted in one heck of a dogfight in the air.
The Baphomet turned and twisted himself around the Hydra's necks, but I got him with the daggers sometimes, but he used the [Regeneration] skill to recover. However, if he's using that along with [Flight], then it won't be long before he runs out of SP. Not to mention that he's also burning through his reserves with [Physical Warfare] and [Magical Warfare]. The constant use of his Magic Eye is also hurting him, but there's no effect on me, as it's automatically turned to a Heretic-attribute move due to his skill.
I've got this! Just when I thought that a massive shockwave came from the Baphomet. The daggers were blown away, and a Hydra head was taken out to boot. Ugh, that's that, right? The scariest thing in the Baphomet's arsenal.
Yeah, broken, Time to finish this guy! I ordered the remaining Hydra heads to attack the Baphomet, but he destroyed them all simply by howling at them! And it's loud! My ears!! My eardrums are gonna pop!
The Baphomet saw me flinching from the howl and dived down from the sky to finish me off. While keeping the ear-piercing howl going, it flexed its muscles with the intent to squash me like a tomato, but don't think I'm gonna let you-argh! This damn sound!
Just what I needed! The skill doesn't reduce the amount of pain, but it lets me move while ignoring it! Just in time! [Thread Control], go!
The Baphomet was just inches from striking me, but he suddenly stopped for some reason. I used the opportunity to use the threads made with [Thread Synthesis] during the dogfight. They were made in the same color as the ground, so the Baphomet didn't realise before it was too late. I used the stupidly amount of threads to wrap up the Baphomet, for then giving them a poison-effect through [Ultima Thread].
The Baphomet looked like he was screaming in pain, but to be honest, my ears are completely useless. I'm confident I couldn't hear one of the explosions of the T-Rex from the Water-Knot right now.
Anyway, as I hate not having my five senses intact, I drew my Tyrant Fang dagger and Crimson Blood Cleaver and slashed at the Baphomet with Dagger's Dance. The Baphomet screamed again, but I stopped my Art forcefully by using [Poltergeist] and then finished off the can-eater with another Art: Neck Hunter.
Phew. My ears are working again. And I got a title again. AND, I cleared a new Legacy Quest. Go me.
I am supposed to go and help the other guys clearing out the goats, but these can-eaters took too big of a toll on me. I'll just fire some spells at them from the top of the rock.
But that thing from before, when the Baphomet suddenly stopped, wasn't that... wind?
---
"Friends. Comrades. Business colleagues. I have to thank you all for your assistance in our time of need. Now, without further ado..." - Adventurer spokesman
"LETS PARTY!!"
After the remains of the monster invasions were finished off, the adventurers held a party in the Guild. The triple-Quest was finished without any casualties, and the ones who did get wounded were cured either through healing spells and potions, or thanks to the shared EXP from their party members, resulting in a level up. On average, the many different parties had their levels increased by 4, a great feat for normal people.
After escaping the many gratulations and solicitations of the other parties, I was sitting in a corner of the tavern that was inside the Guildhall, looking over the new skills I had purchased, along with the skill I obtained through the Quest and by leveling-up my classes.
Elements: [Light Element LV3] [Darkness Divinity] [Shadow Element LV23] [Holy Element LV0] [Ash Element LV10] UP6 [Poison Element LV21] UP10 [Gunpowder Element LV16] UP9
That's a loooooot of skills. I even got the [Skill Collector] title. Only gave me a single skill point though.
"...What in the world am I looking at?" - Marc
"Hmm? Not gonna party?" I asked Marc, who had looked over my shoulder. I've gotten too used to having these [Appraisal] results only visible for party members these days.
"I'm too tired. We're entering that big city tomorrow? Please let me stay at the inn then." - Marc
"Aw come on. You're one of the heroes today, Plant Slayer." - Garami
"That's not funny! People have been asking me to join their party all night! And they all have the eyes of predators!" - Marc
"That's only because of the Hydra Arrow I gave you. I've told people that was my handiwork, so they'll stop bothering you soon." - Garami
Having him attract attention is the last thing we want after all. Marc seeing satisfied with my answer went to Lily who was having a feast of Dahu- and bear-meat. Those small goats had some nasty skills like [Reactive Magic Attack] so they're on a higher priority than the Baphomets that we can cook up at any time. Even the ones that got squashed managed to keep themselves good enough to be dismantled. Guess that's thanks to those crazy stats. It didn't help them protecting their spines.
Ehm, when we're on the subject of Quest rewards, what was it we received again, except for the corpses? I think it was...
Tch, Levi didn't get enough for that phoenix-recovery Skill Scroll. Earthquake goes to Carion when we meet again. The Gauntlet's too heavy for Lily to use for her martial arts, so it goes in the storage with the tower shield. That regalia-thingy is a Guild Home decoration that improves the growth of plants around the home, so that's gonna added to the trophy list along with the Glavras-chest and that golden skull.
The spear is honestly damn useful, but it's limited to those with a class in the Lancer-line. Better keep it stored with the rest. The leather armor can Marc have. It's better than nothing, and he can't use much more. I'm somewhat unsure who should have the Skill Scroll... eh. Can figure that out later. The summoning spell isn't worth it. Skeletons are better than those bamboo guys. I'll sell it.
The Baphomet Horn Staff is the real winner here. I'm gonna have it boosted even more and add it to my Black-Magician equipment set. Kukuku...
"Hey, gloomy dope. What's ya doing?" - Mira
"...Don't go and call people gloomy. Why're you all going to me all the time?" - Garami
"Ehehe. Guess who reached LV40 today?" - Mira
"What, you can evolve already?" - Garami
"...That's quite the dull reaction." - Mira
"You're talking to someone that's evolved three times already. So, what's the deal?" - Garami
"No congratulations or anything? Tch, fine. I wanted to ask you if you could figure out what will happen with each evolution." - Mira
"That's all? Sure, no prob." I said to Mira while appraising her. Her stats have increased again, yes. And...
The evolved form of the Water Sprite. Their appearance is not so different from when they were Water Sprites, but they have gained tattoos that represents their attribute across their bodies.
The Blue Sea Sprite is an incarnation of the sea, being able to create pure water with just mana, and it has the ability to create a disruptive force that can fatally damage anything in its path. This is said to represent how the ocean's change from calm to stormy.
A humanoid demon that possesses the ability to drain humanoids of their vitality. They look like human women with bat-like wings, black tails ending in a heart-mark, long ears like an elf, and demonic horns of many varieties on their heads.
The succubus is capable of forcing people to sleep, for then to drain their vitality while they're sleeping. In return, the succubus grants pleasant dreams to the victims.
...Is what was supposed to be, but the way the succubus drains their victims of their vitality is through sexual intercourse. The succubus all prefer this method above their [Drain SP] skill, something they easily achieve thanks to their Charm-related abilities, and their lecherous bodies and minds.
A succubus wouldn't mind any strange plays, as long as they would get semen from their partner. Some succubus even accepts to just watch other people have a go, as long as they would receive the semen in the end. A truly erotic monster, that children should stay away from.
A sea nymph that is said to symbolize everything beautiful and kind about the oceans.
The Nereids are both sprite-type humanoids, oceanic creatures, and distant relatives to the succubus. It is said that women that drown in the sea will gain a new life as Nereids, and true to that, the Nereids take the shape of humanoid females.
Their skin is light blue, and there may be specimens with tattoo-like markings on their body. They also have fin-like appendages on their legs, which they can put away thanks to their [Transformation] skill. They also have sharp horns and long ears like their succubus siblings, and they have a tail on their back similar to a sea-serpent.
Like the ocean, the Nereids can be equally raging as they are graceful. They are masters in both naval and land battles, and there have been cases where Water Dragons have been hunted down by a group of Nereids.
A Sprite that has taken the first steps to become a swordsman is the only beings that can evolve into this variant species.
The Sword Sprite is one of the variants amongst the sprite species, where the individual focused on a style instead of an element. The Sword Sprite has an incredible talent with the sword, and can easily reach the Sword Saint class if they are trained well enough.
"Ooh! This one looks good! But... it's kinda lacking in skills. Kinda want as much as possible." - Mira
"And you lose your racial water attribute to boot." - Garami
Mira continued to grumble while looking over her choices. Oh well, guess I'll get myself another-*Dunk!*-drink?
"Hey, what's up with your girlfriend?" - Mob adventurer A
"Nothing, nothing. She's just too drunk now. I'll take her to her room." - Garami
I forgot to mention that you go into a coma-state when evolving. Geez, what a handful. Wonder what she chose?
Greydra
Kigal-Note/Titles: Demon Slayer
Title: [Demon Slayer]
Acquisition condition:
Effects:
Description: A title given to those who have bested the demons from hell.
The Demon Slayer title is a reward given to those who have defeated the greatest of the demon-species, the Arch-Demons. In addition to granting the usual damage increase found in the Slayer-titles, this title is also a requirement for granting a special Demon skill, which grants the skill-user the traits of one of the 72 phantasmal demons only summonable through the Unique Skill, [Solomon, Lord of Summoning].
Garami's comment: Feels kinda wrong having this skill, but it was the can-eaters that started it, not me.